NEW GENERAL MANAGER CELEBRATES 30 YEARSAS A GM BY TAKING OVER THE HYATT REGENCY
Celebrating 30 years as a hotel General Manager, Ken Pilgrim took over the top spot at the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles International Hotel in August after spending more than two years at the helm of The Westin Long Beach.
Ken was born and raised in Downey, California and attended and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management.
While attending college, Ken held severalpositions with Hyatt Hotels Corporation, which led to a training program and several management positions. His first General Manager’s position was at the Hyatt on Sunset Boulevard in 1987. Ken was also the opening General Manager at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque and The Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa.
Ken also served as General Manager for Starwood Hotels and Resorts at The Westin Hilton Head Resort, The Westin Century Plaza, The Westin Long Beach, The Westin Mission Hills Resort and Spa and the Westin Market Street San Francisco.
“He takes great pride in seeing his team shine and he inspires them to greater heights through leading by example,” said Victor Simmons, who worked for Ken at Starwood. “On a property cleanup day for all managers to comb the property for an hour picking up trash it would not be uncommon to see Ken in the bushes with another manager not only picking up trash but pulling out weeds!”
While overseeing The Westin in Long Beach, Ken was a founding board member of the Long Beach Hospitality Alliance (LBHA), a new committee organized under the umbrella of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce aimed at giving hotels — and eventually restaurants and other tourism-related businesses — a more unified voice in the community.
Ken was nominated General Manager of the Year by Hyatt Hotels, recognized by the West Los Angeles Women’s Business Council as Man of the Year and General Manager of the Year by the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce.
Ken’s passions are spending time with his family, golf and running.
